


Never To Stray From The Path

by shopfront



Category: Grimm (TV)
Genre: Accidents, Bickering, Case Gone Wrong, Huddling For Warmth, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Surprise Kissing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-13
Updated: 2019-07-13
Packaged: 2020-06-03 14:22:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,864
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19465816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shopfront/pseuds/shopfront
Summary: When Hank goes on vacation, Captain Renard assigns a rookie to work with Nick and keep him out of trouble. It doesn't quite work.





	Never To Stray From The Path

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Tarlan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tarlan/gifts).



It was only the faintest of rustlings in the underbrush that alerting Nick to the fact he was being followed, but it was enough to make him draw his weapon. Briefly he felt and dismissed regret that he’d ventured out on the case alone. Probably it was just some animal stumbling across his trail, but better safe than-

“What the hell are you doing here?” Nick snapped, lowering his weapon.

Sean just gave him a dry look as he finished picking his way over to Nick a little less carefully. “Looking for you, obviously.”

“Yeah, I got that much. But why?” Nick asked. He tried to stop himself grimacing and at least attempt a veneer of professionalism as he holstered his weapon and shook the tension out of his shoulders, but judging by the look on Sean’s face he wasn’t all that successful.

Sean didn’t mention it, though. All he did was roll his eyes as he drew to a stop. They were almost toe to toe, and Nick had to swallow back the instinctive resentment at being towered over.

“Because I found the junior officer I assigned to you loitering around the station with nothing to do. You’re not meant to be working alone while Hank’s away. You should have taken Wu with you, at the very least.”

Nick shrugged and glanced away, scrubbing a hand across the back of his neck. “I couldn’t find him,” he admitted after a moment, made uncomfortable by the intensity of Sean’s stare

But all Sean said in reply was, “and I’m guessing you didn’t look all that hard. What are we searching for out here?”

Nick’s eyebrows shot up as Sean moved past him and deeper into the woods. He had to hurry to keep up with Sean’s long strides, but the Captain didn’t seem inclined to slow down as his head turned back and forth to sweep the area ahead of them for intruders.

“I’m not sure. The victims claim they saw a vampire; pale, pointy teeth, went for someone’s throat, the whole nine yards. Apparently he ran away when he saw the garlic they had out on the kitchen bench and he disappeared into the woods in this general direction. That’s why I sent Gary back to the precinct without me. I haven’t seen anything to suggest this really was Wesen rather than just a late Halloween prank, but I thought it was probably better safe than sorry.”

“Gareth,” Sean corrected absently.

“Right, Gareth. Sure. Whatever.”

“Have you noticed any unusual butterfly presence around the house or in the woods?”

Nick blinked. “It’s November.”

Sean looked back over his shoulder, the corners of his mouth twitching upwards. “Hence why I said ‘unusual’, Nick.” But his amusement didn’t last long as they reached a deep ridge in the earth with no obvious way across. “If you haven't stumbled across any butterfly swarms, then it's probably not Wesen. But we can put out an alert with the ranger service. It looks like the trail ends here anyway, at least for now. ”

“I wasn’t exactly following a trail,” Nick admitted as he looked along the ridge in either direction. Trees hemmed them in from all sides, even spindly saplings struggling to reach light where they grew along the sides and bottom of the crevasse. But there were no signs of human activity, and no movement that he could spot between the trees.

“You were just walking around in the woods, alone, without any sort of hiking gear or even a trail to follow back?” Sean asked as a furrow began to form on his brow. “This is exactly why I assigned-”

Nick bristled. “I don’t need a babysitter,” he said, outraged, and not for the first time.

“Are you sure about that? Because the last time I allowed my officers to-”

But whatever Sean did or didn’t allow his officers to do, Nick didn't hear it. He squared his shoulders and spun around, his hand raised and ready to poke Sean in the chest, but before he could say anything Nick found himself slipping on the damp leaves that lay along the lip of the crevasse.

The last thing he saw was the frustration on Sean’s face turn into alarm, and a hand reach out. But it wasn’t fast enough, and Nick tumbled over the edge with a yell.

*

Faintly, Nick registered that his name was being called repeatedly. It was interspersed with strange sliding and thumping sounds and the occasional curse, all in a voice that sounded oddly familiar. Nick groaned, prompting the voice to repeat itself with more urgency as he inhaled a mouthful of dirt and started to cough and splutter. Blearily, he reached up to bat at his face and try to clear away whatever was on top of him as he tried to move. But he stilled again equally quickly when a sharp pain shot through his leg and his fingers found something sticky on his forehead.

The cursing was growing closer. By the time Nick had worked out that he was lying face down outside - hence the dirt, he figured out groggily - a hand had grasped him by the shoulder and begun to carefully roll him over. Someone leant in close beside him to brace him as he turned, moving him slowly until he lay gasping on his back and finally able to suck in deep, blessedly dirt-free gulps of air.

“Nick? Nick! Can you hear me, are you hurt?”

Sean’s face swum into view, wavering a little as Nick tried to focus his eyes in the dim light. Sunlight shone through the trees above them, haloing Sean’s face like some sort of angel and making it harder to see his expression. But Nick thought he looked troubled as he reached for Nick’s face, his fingers rubbing gently above an eyebrow before pulling back so Sean could inspect them.

“Well, that’s not blood at least. Can you tell me if you’re in pain?”

“My leg,” Nick said with a grunt as he tried to sit up. But Sean’s hand shifted easily to Nick’s chest, pressing him firmly back down.

“Try not to move, it’s hard to see anything down here and I don’t want to miss something,” Sean said as his hands continued to make their way down Nick’s body and feel for injuries.

Nick stiffened as Sean felt his way around Nick’s abdomen, rucking up Nick's shirt a little before gently smoothing down to his hips. The brief warmth of skin on skin made him shiver, and Nick let out a quiet but involuntary gasp at the loss as Sean’s hands pulled away to begin checking his legs.

“What was that? Did you hit something on your way down?” Sean asked urgently as his hands quickly returned to Nick's stomach. They felt like brands on Nick’s skin, especially compared to the cold and the damp of the ground beneath him. “I don’t feel any blood, but that was a hell of a fall. If you have internal injuries then we’ll need to get you out of here quickly, which may prove tricky.”

“It doesn’t hurt too much. Probably just a few bruises,” Nick said. His voice sounded raspy even to his own ears, and he cleared his throat awkwardly before continuing. “If my legs are okay then I’ll be alright to climb.”

But Sean was shaking his head as he turned his attention back down. He pressed gently here and there along Nick's thighs, feeling them one at a time for breaks and swelling, but Nick didn’t yelp until Sean reached his knees. “I don’t think either of us is going anywhere,” he said as he continued down to Nick’s ankles and then sat back on his heels with a sigh.

“We can’t just stay here forever,” Nick insisted. “Nobody knows where we are!”

“That knee is already swelling and I had a hard enough time getting down here in one piece. I’m not sure if I can even get myself back up without assistance, so there’s no way you’ll manage it without injuring yourself further,” Sean replied calmly. Nick began to bluster, but he was ignored as Sean carefully removed his suit jacket and slipped a hand under Nick’s back to prop him up.

As Sean arranged the jacket around his shoulders, Nick fell quiet again. Confused, he watched as Sean fussed a little more and then settled on the ground beside Nick with a sigh. He propped his arms up on his knees as he pulled out his cell phone and stared at it for a long moment, then he sighed again more deeply.

“I couldn’t get cell service up top, either. You weren’t responding, so I didn’t think it wise to wander off and risk losing track of you altogether. But I did manage to spell a message to the Spice Shop. It should appear on the nearest piece of paper to whomever is working the shop today. If we sit tight and stay warm, all we’ll have to do is wait for your friends to notice the message and sniff out our trail to bring help.”

Nick stared. “I didn’t know you could do that sort of thing."

“I don’t, as a general rule,” Sean replied. His lips tightened, and he didn’t meet Nick’s eyes. “It takes a certain degree of… emotional urgency, shall we say. Not the most practical of spells.”

“Must have been a hell of a fall to watch, then,” Nick said after a beat of silence.

“Indeed.”

* 

A few hours later, Nick was really starting to regret falling unconscious and scaring Sean out of trying harder to place a call. The sun was beginning to lower as the afternoon drew onwards, but being tucked away in the crevasse made it feel like night was already falling. Nick had begun to shiver some time ago, but to his relief Sean hadn’t said a word about it. Instead, he’d casually unfolded himself from his position keeping watch above Nick and stretched out on the ground as well.

Somehow he felt just as warm pressed against Nick’s side as his hands had felt directly on Nick’s skin. It didn’t take long for Nick to forgo any sense of pride or professional distance from a man who usually drove him up the wall, but to Nick's surprise and despite all of their history Sean’s arms had opened easily for him when Nick had edged a little closer. One arm had slipped under Nick’s head before he’d even realised it was happening, and Sean had rolled onto his side to press more of himself against Nick.

“I'm guessing there isn't a way for you to magically check whether someone got your note, yet,” Nick finally gathered himself to ask with a sigh. But Sean had only murmured a negative and curled his arm tighter around Nick’s shoulders. “Well, what use is that, then?”

He tried to lighten his tone, aiming for jovial in the hope that things would feel less tense and awkward. But he was cold, far colder than he probably should be considering he was wearing two jackets and Sean wasn’t shivering in the slightest, and the words came out weak.

“Here, rest your knee on top of mine to elevate it,” was all Sean said as he curled his body in tighter, tugging Nick until he also rolled over into what was quickly becoming a full on cuddle.

“Pretty sure you should have at least bought me dinner, first,” Nick said, but he didn’t fight Sean’s manhandling. His knee throbbed more urgently at him when he moved it, but it was a relief to ease the rest of his stiff muscles by changing positions. Sean’s other arm came around to curl against the small of Nick's back and he began to rub a hand casually up and down Nick's spine as if this was an everyday occurrence.

“Take the junior officer with you next time and I’ll buy you all the dinners you want,” Sean replied dryly, but the corners of his eyes crinkled with amusement as he glanced down at Nick.

Distantly, Nick registered that his shivering was finally easing off a little. But it wasn’t often he saw Sean’s face relaxed like this, and he was unexpectedly transfixed by the sight of it. “Probably better this way. Gary was so green he’d likely have wandered off in search of help and forgotten how to get back here with the rescue team.”

Sean snorted. “Gareth,” he corrected again. His tone was exasperated but he was beginning to smile. “But you’re probably right. How about I just make it a new rule that you and Hank are required to take your vacations at the same time.”

His smile faltered a little when Nick swallowed hard and ducked his head, tucking himself a little closer. He was just cold, was all, but-

“Nick?”

“You’re pretty good at this whole wilderness survival thing,” Nick muttered.

There was silence for a moment above him and the hand on his back stopped moving. It lasted just long enough for Nick to begin to tense back up, but then Sean shifted a little and relaxed again beside him. “This is hardly an extreme survival situation we’ve gotten ourselves into. You’ve sprained that knee and you're potentially still in shock, but we aren’t far from civilisation. I'm sure we’ll be found long before nightfall.”

Nick hummed and squirmed a little, sighing in relief when it pressed him more thoroughly against Sean’s warmth. “Still. It’s not exactly what I expected, what with your whole… Prince thing.”

Sean’s voice sounded arch but amused when he replied. “I spent much of my early life on the run. I promise you these are hardly the most uncomfortable surroundings I’ve found myself, nor the least ideal circumstances.”

Nodding thoughtfully made Nick’s head throb in concert with his knee, so he stopped just as quickly as he’d started. But the movement had brought Sean's face back into view, and Nick found he couldn't look away from Sean's piercing gaze. “Lucky me, I guess. I doubt Hank would have been quite so good with this touchy feely warmth stuff.”

As Sean’s mouth opened and shut wordlessly again, Nick had the faint realisation that - blood or no blood - he might have hit his head harder than he thought. At the very least, he was fairly certain that he’d never been tempted to watch the Captain's eyes or mouth this closely before. But he was also warm, kind of. Or comfortable… kind of. Enough so that leaning forward to close the already minuscule distance between them seemed like a sensible decision, as long as he was careful not to jolt his head again and he didn't think too hard about what he was doing.

Sean’s breath left him in a puff of air when their lips met. But he didn’t jerk away or jostle Nick in his surprise, and Nick hummed again as he pressed forward a little further and parted his lips so they fit better against the Captain's mouth.

When Nick pulled back, Sean’s expression was carefully blank. “I thought you said something about buying you dinner, first,” he said slowly.

Nick snorted and licked his lips, uneasy now as the impulsivity of his actions began to catch up with him. But before he could muster a response, the faint sound of voices calling their names reached him. A moment later, Monroe’s voice hollered excitedly above them as he apparently caught their scent deep in the ravine.

“We’re down here,” Nick yelled back, and now Sean did startle. It made Nick hiss as their legs bumped together, but he quickly twisted his fingers into Sean’s shirt before he could pull away further. “And yeah, you can do that too, if you want. The dinner, I mean.”

Sean was still staring and the yelling and crashing was getting closer as their rescuers began to pick their way along the edge of the crevasse, searching for where Nick and Sean lay. “If you’re hungry after they’ve finished clearing you for a concussion, I know a place not too far from the hospital," he eventually said.

“Of course you do,” Nick replied as he released his grip on Sean's shirt and they began to untangle themselves. He grunted when Sean slipped free and staggered to his feet, rotating his shoulder as if the arm had long gone numb.The voices above them were growing more frantic, but Nick just relaxed and let Sean take over calling back to them. Sean's eyes didn’t leave Nick’s as he guided the others to them, and Nick could already feel the cold creeping back in.

But it wouldn't be long now - and a few minutes later, after two faces finally peered down at them briefly before disappearing again to sort out the ropes they'd bought, he let Sean kneel at his side and help him lever himself up. And even if his head hurt and he wasn't entirely sure what he was doing, with Sean's arm warm around his waist to brace him he couldn't bring himself to regret the impulse of the moment.


End file.
